Sunday, September 25, 2016

[jules' pics] Three Peaks Cyclocross

The Three Peaks Cyclocross - the bizarre sport of riding an unsuitable bicycle in an unsuitable place in unsuitable conditions - was this morning. James and I (and two other members of the Settle Wheelers) were marshalling at "Little Ingleborough", an important junction in the paths, at 630m. It wasn't cold. At least not until one had been stood in the howling wind on "Little Ingleborough" for an hour. We must have had it easier than some of the other marshals however, as Ingleborough is the first peak of the three so the field would be much more spread out later on. There were about 550 competitors with finish times ranging from 2h 58m to 6h 24m. 31 retired, mostly because their unsuitable bicycles were not suitable for the unsuitable conditions. At our relatively early stage in the race, we saw just one with what looked like a broken collar bone although a quite a few others that were still riding were bleeding from their shins.

The first two through finished the other way round. Not sure what happened as Rob Jebb was more than 2 minutes in the lead at this stage.
Rob Jebb